Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hi, it's Michael Blaze. Welcome to Your Home three sixty,
the show where we talk about everything that has to
do with your home, whether it's your roof, for maintenance
of your home, or the buying and selling or renting
of your home. We talked about real estate. Today we're
going to talk about landscape and what you need to
do to protect your landscape over the winner, and I
(00:25):
found out a few things I didn't know. Today's special
guest is Ryan Watkins. He's the CEO of Brownswood Nursery
and Design. We're going to get to Ryan here in
just a minute now. If you want to listen to
any of the past episodes of Your Home three sixty,
I've got podcasts up online for you. Just go to
ninety four to three WSC dot com, click on podcast,
(00:45):
and then look for your Home three sixty. You can
also find it on the brand new iHeartRadio app. Just
search for your Home three sixty with Michael Blaze and
all the past episodes are up on there. On the
line with me is my friend Ryan Watkins, CEO of
Brownswood Nursery and Landscape Design. Welcome Ryan, Thanks, Michael.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Excited to be We.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Well I'm glad you're with us today. So let's start out.
Brownswood Nursery has a long history here in Charleston on
John's Island there. It's been in business for how long
now forty something years, maybe even longer.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Yeah. Yeah, we're celebrating forty seven years in January, so
almost fifty. We're getting close.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Well, congratulations, Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
We're thankful just to be here, buddy.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Hey man, Well, we're thankful to have you still. You know,
there's something to be said about a quality nursery.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah, I think it's important to buy quality plant material
from a place that can also give you the advice
and the direction on the right plant for the right place.
Because even if you get high quality plants, but the
people that you're purchasing from don't know anything about the plants,
(02:03):
it's a crapshoot. And our people at Brownswood are highly
trained horticulturalists, many of which are certified through the State
of South Carolina Green Industry as Certified Nursery and Horticulture Professionals.
So we're very proud of the education that we provide
(02:24):
our team. They're always learning, we're always learning. No one
has the monopoly on all the horticulture knowledge or gardening knowledge.
It's a very humble team. We resource each other when
when guests come in and they stump us on something.
I had something just yesterday a couple on Daniel Island.
I was doing an inn yard consultation and giving them
a price for a design and installation, and she asked
(02:47):
me about licorice root mulch. Have you have you ever
heard of licorice root mulch.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
I was just going to say, no, I have not, Ryan,
I haven't.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
I've been doing this for almost twenty years and I've
I've never heard of it. And so I told her,
I said, I haven't heard of that, but I'm going
to look into it. I'm going to research it. And
so I started googling and she was telling me, you
know that she was from Pennsylvania and how it was
something that they could get up there. And so anyway,
every day we learned something new at Brownswood and we
just are on that growth growth curve, just keep growing.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Wow. So what is the benefit of licorice root mulch?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
I'll tell you once. Once I figure that out, maybe
when you have me on the next one, I'll have
a better answer for you. I'm still I'm still investigating.
To be continued.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
This is what I love about professional people, and I
try to hold myself to this standard. It's just be
honest and say, you know what, I don't know, but
I will find out for you, exactly right.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
And that's what I told her. And I'm gonna and
I'm going to research it and get a little bit
more you know, knowledge base on it. And I think
it might have something to do with their the more
northern climate has more access to it or something. But yeah,
I'm going to find out more about it. Around here,
you know, our staples are hardwood mulch, cypress mulch, mixed blend,
(04:09):
you know, pine bark mulch, and then you typically get
sort of that brown or black, you know, dyed or
just natural and of course pine straw. But I find
a lot of our brothers and sisters from the North
when they get down here don't like pine straw. I
don't know if you felt that way when you first
(04:29):
got to Charleston or what.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Well, because I'll tell you that's stuff that we cleaned
up up north out of our yard, not laid it
down in our yard.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Well, see there's there's that, there's that Southern ingenuity there.
You know, we gotta make money. We got to make
money hunt this extra pinestraw. See it's coming off these
pine trees.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
I've brought that up to my family before. I'm like,
you know how much money we could have made Because
I grew up, you know, we we thought we lived
in the country, and we really didn't. It was the city,
but we had an acre and a half lot, so it
had a lot of trees. Yeah, it's a big lot,
especially for the city. And so you know when fall
came and all the leaves fall at once, I mean,
oh my gosh, what a cleanup. But a lot of
(05:12):
them were pine trees too, And we cleaned up so
much pine straw. And I'm like, you know how much
money we could have made. I never knew people who
would buy this stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
That's right. Just bail it, string it and you're good
to go. And I will say, for all those those
out there that maybe don't understand why pine straw is
so used, it does have a couple of benefits. And
this is applicable actually to the season we're in right now.
Pine straw is really good when you have heavy leaf
debris from existing trees on your lot, because it just
(05:44):
blends better with that leaf debris versus a chocolate brown
hardwood mulch looks like a dark hardwood floor. It just
shows everything. So the second you know, the day you
lay it is the best it's going to look. And
then the next day, if you've got a b of
trees in your yard, like on your parents at home,
where you've got all these trees dropping leaves all the time,
(06:06):
it just covers it up, you know, and it looks messy.
Pine straw tends to blend better. It's also better used
on slopes. So if you do have kind of a
grade change and you have a slope or a hill,
which even in Charlson we do have, pine straw tends
to hold a little bit better sometimes versus some of
(06:26):
the lighter mulch can float away a little bit easier
depending on what it is. So there are uses for it.
But if I had my druthers and you don't have
a bunch of trees on your lot, including pine trees.
By the way, I do love the look of a
nice mulch. I just it looks better to me.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
And I'll add this too, and you can correct me
if I'm wrong. You know, it's more economical because it
has more volume, is you know, a little puffier for
lack of a better description. So when you lay down
other mulch, you know you have to figure if you
want a few inches of more, it's going to cost
you some money if you have to cover a bigger area,
(07:03):
where with the pine straw you get more bang for
your buck.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
That's exactly right. And I tell people, you know, pinestruck
covers a multitude of sin. If you've got a space
that that doesn't look really good, I tell you what,
you going buy ten dales of pine straw, and that
thing magically looks, you know, excellent.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
I had a client who was selling an acing lot
in it. It was just ugly, and I'm like, you
know what, you need to invest a few hundred dollars.
We need to come in here and lay some pine
straw down across this thing. He thought I was absolutely nuts,
and I'm like, you don't understand. It's going to polish
it up. It's going to make it look nice. And
in any way he thought he thought I was cool.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Well yeah, because he's going, what am I pine strawing
there's nothing here, but it's just a fact of having
what looks like beds can be a game changer when
you're when you're about to have a party at your
house and you wanted to look a little tight year
than it actually is. I tell I'm telling you a
little bit of pine strug goes a long way. Or
if you're about to sell house, it can really bring
(08:08):
order to that area that maybe looks weed filled. But
you got some pine straw over it now, and so
now you can't see all the weeds.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Right, So you said the multitude of sin.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
It does and it is cheap speaking.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Yeah, So so now if you want to, uh, if
you want to step up the scale a bit, let's
talk about the hardwood, or at least the wood mulches.
Which ones are beneficial and where and why?
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Yeah, I think you know the main multi suppliers in
our area are are are carrying. You know, they've got
they've got more options now than maybe they did even
ten years ago. But a lot of it's the same.
It's it's either a hard wood or they'll do a
pine mix. And I'll tell you there's there's advantages and
(08:59):
disadvantages to all of it. Some people are very sensitive
to the dye part. They don't want dyes on their lot. Me,
it doesn't bother me. I've used you know, a dye.
Chocolate brown mulch is sort of my favorite, and I've
done that. And you've got you know, places like All
Seasons Mulch Market. Shout out to Greg and Sherry Tucker
(09:21):
over there. They do a great job and have a
lot of different options of mulches and soils and all
sorts of things. But yeah, they've got hardwood mulch, pine
bark mulch, and I think that you know, some of
the pine bark mulch, Michael, we use, like if we're
doing a lot of annuals, that tends to be able
(09:42):
to be chilled back into the soil a little easier.
You know, when you have like that real thick hardwood mulch,
you know, like you said, it doesn't break down as
fast as the color can fade. And so what you
get left with is after a few years of layering
(10:02):
that mulch, at some point you're going to have to
probably purge some of that mulch and you're going to
have to do it or pay somebody to drag a
portion of that out of the bed. And you know,
sometimes it's nicer to have mulches that do break down
into the soil. They're adding organic matter into the soil.
We really like that and that's I think that's good
(10:23):
for the environment. It's good for the soil, it's good
for the plants. The flip side, though, is it you
know you're losing your mulch. You know, you know that
it's going to be breaking down faster than you know,
a traditional like hardwood mulch that isn't going to break
down as fast. So we could talk about this for
a couple hours on the mulch thing. But the main
thing is nobody nobody loves spending money on tires, and
(10:48):
I don't think they love spending money on mulch. Every year.
You got to kind of spend the money. But I
will tell you it is the differential between the landscape
looking finished, the cake forkly being iced or not.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Well, you can you have it. You can actually do both. Ryan.
You can buy rubber maults made out of old tires.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Once you can't you can't do that. And there and
and some people have have had some success with that.
We have had some clients to have gone that route.
I still think there's some mixed, uh, mixed debates on
the rubber maults. Is it a good idea or not,
is it is it worth it or not. I don't
(11:32):
have a dog in that fight. But but we don't
do much of that. We don't see most people want
to go down that route. But it is a thing,
you're right, and people say, Okay, this is a one
and done. Yeah, I'm spending a fortune up front, but
then it's done. I think you can still get like
debris and stuff in there, so you know, I don't know.
I like things that do kind of break down and
(11:53):
head back into the soil because we always want to
keep building that soil because it really makes the landscape
and ironment, whether it's your lawn or or your plantings,
just do so much better. And in this winter season,
having malts or pine straw also helps protect the root
system of our plants, particularly ones that are a little
(12:14):
bit more tender. So it's very important that you are mulching.
It adds insulation in the winter and in the summer
it protects the roots from heat. Michael, like the sun
and the heat. I don't know if you know this
but our summers get warm in Charleston.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
I noticed that a little bit. Have you.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Have you ever filled a warm summer, Michael, It's why I.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Was sweating so much last July.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yeah, That's that's what it is. It's it's it's that,
you know, Charleston summer. It's kind of like when the
spaceship is about like ten inches off the ground and
you're like right there in that sweet spot. That's a
nice Charleston summer.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
I've always likened it to, you know, when you preheat
the oven when you're baking something and you lean over
and you open that oven and that heat hits you
in the face. Yes, that's what it's like walking out
the front door in the summer in the low country.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Yes. And so the plants need irrigation consistently and they
need insulation, and so that insulation of malt or pine
straw is good for weed control. It really helps with
preventing weat seed from coming in and germinating and that
sort of thing. It insulates the roots in the summer
(13:25):
from the heat and the winter from the cold. It
also helps with moisture retention. So when you are irrigating,
which costs a fortune, by the way, just a quick psa.
I don't understand why John's Island water is so expensive,
particularly on the sewer side, So just a quick little
(13:45):
complaint about that. But anyway, you know, water is so
important for plants. You want to irrigate wisely. We want
to use our water wisely. And again that mult helps
insulate it so you don't have the water as much
or as frequently.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Now, Ryan, you mentioned irrigation, and now would be a
good time to talk about irrigation. In the wintertime, a
lot of people just stop doing everything in anything in
their yard. But there's some dry periods. I know it
tends to you know, rain a lot, especially around this
time of year. We're coming into kind of the rainy season.
(14:20):
But you know there's dry periods in the winter, and
you should not let your plants dry out over the winter.
I mean, they still need even if they're dormant, they
still need water, don't they.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Yeah, And what happens is if the plant is irrigated
and it's got moisture content in it, it's able to
handle the freezes and the wind so much better because
what the wind does when you got that cold, you know,
wind blowing across your plants. It's actually pulling moisture out
(14:52):
of the leaves, which, by the way, an additional public
service announcement, do not stand up your plants in the
back of your pickup truck as you drive across the
Ravenel Bridge to your home. That's thirty to fifty mile
an hour breeze that's blowing across your plants is sucking
(15:12):
moisture out of the plant, and it can really harm
the plant. And we've seen, you know, if you plant
something that has been wind whipped or wind impacted like that,
you can plant it and within a couple of days
begin to see defoliation where the plant would literally just
start dropping leaves because it doesn't have the moisture content
(15:33):
and maybe even nutrients to support what it had two
days before when we were irrigating it, you know, every
day or twice a day. So when you do buy plants,
cover your plants in the back of your pickup truck,
lay them down and cover them with a tarp, and
it will save you so much pain and suffering. Later
after you go to plant it and you start to
(15:54):
see the needles or the leaves start to defolly.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
It off of it well, that's great vice, Ryan. And
you know, in speaking of wintertime, are there different kinds
of plants that you can plant this time of year?
And and you know what what do you have going
on at Brownswood Nursery right now? For people that you know,
there's so that are a green thumb and they're itching
to get in the dirt and and grow something. You know,
(16:21):
what do you what do you offer them at this
time of year?
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Well, Brownswood is open year round, so we have acres
and acres and acres out here. We're the largest garden
center and design build firm combined in the Charleston area.
Our total property right now is about seventy acres and
(16:47):
that's that's not all developed. We have a lot of
still undeveloped areas, but we have very large water reservoirs
and ponds and things that we can irrigate from. And
but we have tens of thousands of plants, Michael out
here all the time year round, and so we have
i'd say eighty percent just to pick a number. It's
(17:07):
a gas, but eighty percent of our plant material in
Chrolston can be planted every day of the year. Winter
summer doesn't matter. And again this is a broad brush,
it's not an exact percentage, don't fact check me. But
twenty percent, let's say, are more tender, more seasonal things,
and those would be things like shell ginger. I don't
know if you're familiar with ginger lily alpinia. It's a variegated,
(17:32):
very herbaceous, beautiful plant, and we typically don't want to
plant that in the winter because we're concerned that if
we do have a more severe winter, which does happen
occasionally in Chrolston, it might not come back because it
doesn't have the root system to support it. But you know, citrus,
I wouldn't be planting citrus in the winter. It already
(17:54):
has some cold sensitivities depending on which variety, whether it's
a lemon or a lime or a grapefruit. But I mean, again,
say eighty percent to make up our fictitious number of
plant can be planted every day, and winter is an
excellent time to plant. And it's a misnomer, particularly if
you're from more northern climates. You think winter is bad
(18:17):
and summer is good, and then just Charleston, you have
to calibrate that winter, spring fall, every part of the
year is actually fine as long as you have irrigation. Now,
if you don't have irrigation, then I would avoid the summer.
Right but right now you can plant elms, oaks, Hollis
(18:38):
Annis lagustrum, camellias, hydrangeas, azaleas. You know, there's countless varieties,
Magnolia's I mean, nandina. I could go on and on.
I could just keep saying plant names over and over again.
But tons of plants can be planted today. They can
be planted a month from now in the middle of January.
(19:00):
Thing you just want to check is their their cold sensitivity.
And again, a certified horticulture professional at Brownswood can help
you make the right decision for the right plant in
the right place and the timing. And we'll tell you
we have integrity. We'll tell you, hey, missus Smith, don't
plant this plant today, just wait, come back, come back later,
(19:22):
you know, get it, get it later, or put it
inside your house, enjoy it as a house planet that's applicable.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Well, that's great to know. And I did not realize
that you could plant virtually year round. I thought that,
you know, you had to do it at specific times.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Yeah, it's a lot of people think that you have
to do it at a specific time, and Charleston's climate
has it's so mild in our winters now we have
had again we do have these cold, cold freezes and
cold snaps. And again I'm not a meteorologist or a
predictor of what our winter this year will be like,
(20:00):
although I do think the groundhog will see a shadow.
I'm gonna go ahead and just put that out there,
punks a Tony Phil So what that prediction comes true?
Will you please reair this and then point to that
I got I got that right.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
That'll be That'll be our deal.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Okay, good. But in terms of plant material, we are
a really unique climate that we can plant so much so, uh,
you know, across the entire year. And I will also say,
if you're downtown Charleston, if you're in parts of James
Island towards Polly Beach, the U s d A has
(20:40):
upgraded you a few years ago to Zone nine A.
So if you google usd A Zone nine A, you
can see the level of plants that you can grow
versus most of John's Island is still eight B Michael,
and a B just means on average, our temperatures are
a little cooler than a nine A. And as you
move down towards Miami, you're moving into from nine A
(21:03):
to nine B to ten A to ten B, and
you're moving from subtropical to tropical where you can have
you know, coconut palms and all that fun you know,
really tropical type stuff. But we're in a really cool
horticultural spot where we can do such a wide range
of plant material. And one quick tip for the winter,
(21:24):
try to find some camelias to plant, because Camellia sussenka's
give you fall color and Camellia japonicas give you that
beautiful winter and all the way. Some varieties will bloom
all the way to April. So Cameilia susanka will give
you more of that fall color and Camilia japonica will
give you more of that winter color. That's a quick
(21:44):
quick tip. If you want to plant something that would
be a great one.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Well nice and if you want to do that, you
should stop by Brownswood Nursery. As Ryan said, they're open
year round. You can stop buy do some shopping and
pick out some plants to pretty up your yard and
keep yourself busy and your green thumb satiated over the wintertime,
and another great thing that you can do for the wintertime.
You also offer design services there. You know, don't wait
(22:09):
until spring or summer to start if you want to,
you know, design your landscape. Don't wait until the last
minute or you know you're going to you're gonna mis
enjoying it for the season. You should get your plans
in order right now. Tell us about your design services, Ryan, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
So we we've been offering design for a long time
and we have an amazing design team. I'm actually the
one that goes out and does our initial design consultation,
which I love doing. I love meeting new people and
seeing their properties and finding ways to enhance it and
make it what they want their dream. But a n
yard consultation is where it starts. And then once that
(22:51):
come out, I can assess with you again your hopes
and dreams Michael for your property, and then say, okay,
well what do you want to invest in this project?
Do you want to invest you know, five thousand or
fifty thousand, what's your goal and what do you want
to achieve from that? And then we drop a plan.
Some of our plans, Michael are sketches, so you know,
(23:14):
it might be a very simple sketch. Many neighborhoods have
HLA's and they have architectural review boards and architectural review committees,
and so those can require an actual scaled landscape plan
on your plant or survey.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
And I mean they're interrupted, Ryan, but I just wanted
to be clear. This goes not only for you know,
the placement of your trees and you know the grading
and all of that for your landscape. You can literally
design their whole yard for them, including where the patio goes,
where the swimming pool goes, where the hot tub goes,
where all the landscaping goes. So it's full service landscape design.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Yeah, that's right, and kind of we follow that Stephen Covey,
you know, encouragement and seven habits, which is begin with
the end in mind, and if you can, we love
to drop a master plan for your property and then
we show you outdoor kitchen, spot, patios, walkways, pergolas, pools, spas,
(24:18):
whatever your dream is. We want to we want to
put that on paper. We have a very sophisticated software
that allows us to show it to you on a
bird's eye view and also a three D fly through video. Michael,
that's immersive. I think you've seen it before and it
makes you feel like you can really visualize where this
is heading. And then once the design's done, we can
(24:41):
implement it. We can install it one phase at a
time based on your budget and your preference of which
part of the yard you want to start in, and
we help you sequence it so you don't paint yourself
into a corner and have to undo work later. So
we help you with Okay, this is this is phase one.
This is where we want to start. Your budget might
be you know, ten thousand, one hundred thousand, doesn't matter,
(25:03):
whatever the budget is. Brownswood has something for everyone. That's
the other thing I want to communicate is because we
are a grower. We're not just a middle man where
we're buying and selling plants. We grow thirty thousand plus
plants a year our own facility on our own land,
from liners, from cuttings. Sweet grass for example. We pick
sweet grass, feed locally and we grow you know, five
(25:25):
six seven thousand sweet grass a year. So you're coming
to a source of plant material and then we can
come up with the plan and then help you implement it.
And if you're a di wire Michael, you like digging
the holes, we can do the heavy lifting. We can
build the more heartscape, irrigation, lighting, you know, water feature
type stuff, grading, drainage, and then you can do the
(25:47):
soft stuff. You can do some of the fun planting.
And so we pair very nicely with the client's needs,
their wishes, what they want to do, and we're very
respectful of their budget. You know, we do. We do
small projects that are one tree, Michael, We'll come out
and plant one tree. And we finished a project a
couple of months ago that was a quarter of a
million dollars in landscaping. So that's a that's a massive swath.
(26:12):
And again we pride ourselves and having something for everyone
at Brownswood well excellent.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
And you know, we could talk forever, but we're out
of time. Time Always Fly is talking to you, Ryan,
and it's always very informative and certainly we'll have you
back again soon. But if people want to check out
Brownswood Nursery, go ahead and give us the address. It's
on Brownswood Road and on John's Island. What's the street number, twelve.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Ninety, Yeah, twelve ninety Brownswood Road, but if you google
Brownswood Nursery it'll come right up. We've been here for
like I said, it'll be forty seven years. And the
best website for us, well, the best place to get us.
The website is Brownswood Nursery dot com and a quick
thing if you Google or if you put in your
URL shop dot Brownswood Nursery dot com. Michael we us
(27:00):
released our live availability so you can actually start to
see right now. It's still in beta testing, but you can.
I'll spread the word for your listeners. You can actually
see what we have in stock right now, and you
can see it twenty four hours a day, seven days
a week, whether we're open or not. There's pictures, there's
details of plants, and we're continuing to build the catalog.
(27:23):
But you can go and see what we have right
now in stock.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
That's excellent. That's a nice feature there, Ryan, And as
I said, always a pleasure to talk to you. Always
very informative. And stay safe, my friend, and we will
talk to you again soon. Go see Ryan Watkins at
Brownswood Nursery and Landscape Design on Brownswood Road, John's Island,
(27:47):
or check out the website and again, give that, give
that new future. Yeah you are all again.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Shop yes, shop dot Brownswoodnursery dot com and that'll bring
you up to our live availability perfect.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
Thanks Ryan, Thanks Michael, And that does it for today's show.
Thanks for listening. If you missed any part of today's
show or you want to listen to it again already
past episodes, go to ninety four to three WSC dot com,
look under podcasts, and then your home three sixty. You
can also download it for free on your iHeartRadio app.
Have a good weekend.
Hi, it's Michael Blaze. Welcome to Your Home three sixty,
the show where we talk about everything that has to
do with your home, whether it's your roof, for maintenance
of your home, or the buying and selling or renting
of your home. We talked about real estate. Today we're
going to talk about landscape and what you need to
do to protect your landscape over the winner, and I
(00:25):
found out a few things I didn't know. Today's special
guest is Ryan Watkins. He's the CEO of Brownswood Nursery
and Design. We're going to get to Ryan here in
just a minute now. If you want to listen to
any of the past episodes of Your Home three sixty,
I've got podcasts up online for you. Just go to
ninety four to three WSC dot com, click on podcast,
(00:45):
and then look for your Home three sixty. You can
also find it on the brand new iHeartRadio app. Just
search for your Home three sixty with Michael Blaze and
all the past episodes are up on there. On the
line with me is my friend Ryan Watkins, CEO of
Brownswood Nursery and Landscape Design. Welcome Ryan, Thanks, Michael.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Excited to be We.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Well I'm glad you're with us today. So let's start out.
Brownswood Nursery has a long history here in Charleston on
John's Island there. It's been in business for how long
now forty something years, maybe even longer.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Yeah. Yeah, we're celebrating forty seven years in January, so
almost fifty. We're getting close.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Well, congratulations, Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
We're thankful just to be here, buddy.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Hey man, Well, we're thankful to have you still. You know,
there's something to be said about a quality nursery.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah, I think it's important to buy quality plant material
from a place that can also give you the advice
and the direction on the right plant for the right place.
Because even if you get high quality plants, but the
people that you're purchasing from don't know anything about the plants,
(02:03):
it's a crapshoot. And our people at Brownswood are highly
trained horticulturalists, many of which are certified through the State
of South Carolina Green Industry as Certified Nursery and Horticulture Professionals.
So we're very proud of the education that we provide
(02:24):
our team. They're always learning, we're always learning. No one
has the monopoly on all the horticulture knowledge or gardening knowledge.
It's a very humble team. We resource each other when
when guests come in and they stump us on something.
I had something just yesterday a couple on Daniel Island.
I was doing an inn yard consultation and giving them
a price for a design and installation, and she asked
(02:47):
me about licorice root mulch. Have you have you ever
heard of licorice root mulch.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
I was just going to say, no, I have not, Ryan,
I haven't.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
I've been doing this for almost twenty years and I've
I've never heard of it. And so I told her,
I said, I haven't heard of that, but I'm going
to look into it. I'm going to research it. And
so I started googling and she was telling me, you
know that she was from Pennsylvania and how it was
something that they could get up there. And so anyway,
every day we learned something new at Brownswood and we
just are on that growth growth curve, just keep growing.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Wow. So what is the benefit of licorice root mulch?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
I'll tell you once. Once I figure that out, maybe
when you have me on the next one, I'll have
a better answer for you. I'm still I'm still investigating.
To be continued.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
This is what I love about professional people, and I
try to hold myself to this standard. It's just be
honest and say, you know what, I don't know, but
I will find out for you, exactly right.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
And that's what I told her. And I'm gonna and
I'm going to research it and get a little bit
more you know, knowledge base on it. And I think
it might have something to do with their the more
northern climate has more access to it or something. But yeah,
I'm going to find out more about it. Around here,
you know, our staples are hardwood mulch, cypress mulch, mixed blend,
(04:09):
you know, pine bark mulch, and then you typically get
sort of that brown or black, you know, dyed or
just natural and of course pine straw. But I find
a lot of our brothers and sisters from the North
when they get down here don't like pine straw. I
don't know if you felt that way when you first
(04:29):
got to Charleston or what.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Well, because I'll tell you that's stuff that we cleaned
up up north out of our yard, not laid it
down in our yard.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Well, see there's there's that, there's that Southern ingenuity there.
You know, we gotta make money. We got to make
money hunt this extra pinestraw. See it's coming off these
pine trees.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
I've brought that up to my family before. I'm like,
you know how much money we could have made Because
I grew up, you know, we we thought we lived
in the country, and we really didn't. It was the city,
but we had an acre and a half lot, so it
had a lot of trees. Yeah, it's a big lot,
especially for the city. And so you know when fall
came and all the leaves fall at once, I mean,
oh my gosh, what a cleanup. But a lot of
(05:12):
them were pine trees too, And we cleaned up so
much pine straw. And I'm like, you know how much
money we could have made. I never knew people who
would buy this stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
That's right. Just bail it, string it and you're good
to go. And I will say, for all those those
out there that maybe don't understand why pine straw is
so used, it does have a couple of benefits. And
this is applicable actually to the season we're in right now.
Pine straw is really good when you have heavy leaf
debris from existing trees on your lot, because it just
(05:44):
blends better with that leaf debris versus a chocolate brown
hardwood mulch looks like a dark hardwood floor. It just
shows everything. So the second you know, the day you
lay it is the best it's going to look. And
then the next day, if you've got a b of
trees in your yard, like on your parents at home,
where you've got all these trees dropping leaves all the time,
(06:06):
it just covers it up, you know, and it looks messy.
Pine straw tends to blend better. It's also better used
on slopes. So if you do have kind of a
grade change and you have a slope or a hill,
which even in Charlson we do have, pine straw tends
to hold a little bit better sometimes versus some of
(06:26):
the lighter mulch can float away a little bit easier
depending on what it is. So there are uses for it.
But if I had my druthers and you don't have
a bunch of trees on your lot, including pine trees.
By the way, I do love the look of a
nice mulch. I just it looks better to me.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
And I'll add this too, and you can correct me
if I'm wrong. You know, it's more economical because it
has more volume, is you know, a little puffier for
lack of a better description. So when you lay down
other mulch, you know you have to figure if you
want a few inches of more, it's going to cost
you some money if you have to cover a bigger area,
(07:03):
where with the pine straw you get more bang for
your buck.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
That's exactly right. And I tell people, you know, pinestruck
covers a multitude of sin. If you've got a space
that that doesn't look really good, I tell you what,
you going buy ten dales of pine straw, and that
thing magically looks, you know, excellent.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
I had a client who was selling an acing lot
in it. It was just ugly, and I'm like, you
know what, you need to invest a few hundred dollars.
We need to come in here and lay some pine
straw down across this thing. He thought I was absolutely nuts,
and I'm like, you don't understand. It's going to polish
it up. It's going to make it look nice. And
in any way he thought he thought I was cool.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Well yeah, because he's going, what am I pine strawing
there's nothing here, but it's just a fact of having
what looks like beds can be a game changer when
you're when you're about to have a party at your
house and you wanted to look a little tight year
than it actually is. I tell I'm telling you a
little bit of pine strug goes a long way. Or
if you're about to sell house, it can really bring
(08:08):
order to that area that maybe looks weed filled. But
you got some pine straw over it now, and so
now you can't see all the weeds.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Right, So you said the multitude of sin.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
It does and it is cheap speaking.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Yeah, So so now if you want to, uh, if
you want to step up the scale a bit, let's
talk about the hardwood, or at least the wood mulches.
Which ones are beneficial and where and why?
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Yeah, I think you know the main multi suppliers in
our area are are are carrying. You know, they've got
they've got more options now than maybe they did even
ten years ago. But a lot of it's the same.
It's it's either a hard wood or they'll do a
pine mix. And I'll tell you there's there's advantages and
(08:59):
disadvantages to all of it. Some people are very sensitive
to the dye part. They don't want dyes on their lot. Me,
it doesn't bother me. I've used you know, a dye.
Chocolate brown mulch is sort of my favorite, and I've
done that. And you've got you know, places like All
Seasons Mulch Market. Shout out to Greg and Sherry Tucker
(09:21):
over there. They do a great job and have a
lot of different options of mulches and soils and all
sorts of things. But yeah, they've got hardwood mulch, pine
bark mulch, and I think that you know, some of
the pine bark mulch, Michael, we use, like if we're
doing a lot of annuals, that tends to be able
(09:42):
to be chilled back into the soil a little easier.
You know, when you have like that real thick hardwood mulch,
you know, like you said, it doesn't break down as
fast as the color can fade. And so what you
get left with is after a few years of layering
(10:02):
that mulch, at some point you're going to have to
probably purge some of that mulch and you're going to
have to do it or pay somebody to drag a
portion of that out of the bed. And you know,
sometimes it's nicer to have mulches that do break down
into the soil. They're adding organic matter into the soil.
We really like that and that's I think that's good
(10:23):
for the environment. It's good for the soil, it's good
for the plants. The flip side, though, is it you
know you're losing your mulch. You know, you know that
it's going to be breaking down faster than you know,
a traditional like hardwood mulch that isn't going to break
down as fast. So we could talk about this for
a couple hours on the mulch thing. But the main
thing is nobody nobody loves spending money on tires, and
(10:48):
I don't think they love spending money on mulch. Every year.
You got to kind of spend the money. But I
will tell you it is the differential between the landscape
looking finished, the cake forkly being iced or not.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Well, you can you have it. You can actually do both. Ryan.
You can buy rubber maults made out of old tires.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Once you can't you can't do that. And there and
and some people have have had some success with that.
We have had some clients to have gone that route.
I still think there's some mixed, uh, mixed debates on
the rubber maults. Is it a good idea or not,
is it is it worth it or not. I don't
(11:32):
have a dog in that fight. But but we don't
do much of that. We don't see most people want
to go down that route. But it is a thing,
you're right, and people say, Okay, this is a one
and done. Yeah, I'm spending a fortune up front, but
then it's done. I think you can still get like
debris and stuff in there, so you know, I don't know.
I like things that do kind of break down and
(11:53):
head back into the soil because we always want to
keep building that soil because it really makes the landscape
and ironment, whether it's your lawn or or your plantings,
just do so much better. And in this winter season,
having malts or pine straw also helps protect the root
system of our plants, particularly ones that are a little
(12:14):
bit more tender. So it's very important that you are mulching.
It adds insulation in the winter and in the summer
it protects the roots from heat. Michael, like the sun
and the heat. I don't know if you know this
but our summers get warm in Charleston.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
I noticed that a little bit. Have you.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Have you ever filled a warm summer, Michael, It's why I.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Was sweating so much last July.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yeah, That's that's what it is. It's it's it's that,
you know, Charleston summer. It's kind of like when the
spaceship is about like ten inches off the ground and
you're like right there in that sweet spot. That's a
nice Charleston summer.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
I've always likened it to, you know, when you preheat
the oven when you're baking something and you lean over
and you open that oven and that heat hits you
in the face. Yes, that's what it's like walking out
the front door in the summer in the low country.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Yes. And so the plants need irrigation consistently and they
need insulation, and so that insulation of malt or pine
straw is good for weed control. It really helps with
preventing weat seed from coming in and germinating and that
sort of thing. It insulates the roots in the summer
(13:25):
from the heat and the winter from the cold. It
also helps with moisture retention. So when you are irrigating,
which costs a fortune, by the way, just a quick psa.
I don't understand why John's Island water is so expensive,
particularly on the sewer side, So just a quick little
(13:45):
complaint about that. But anyway, you know, water is so
important for plants. You want to irrigate wisely. We want
to use our water wisely. And again that mult helps
insulate it so you don't have the water as much
or as frequently.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Now, Ryan, you mentioned irrigation, and now would be a
good time to talk about irrigation. In the wintertime, a
lot of people just stop doing everything in anything in
their yard. But there's some dry periods. I know it
tends to you know, rain a lot, especially around this
time of year. We're coming into kind of the rainy season.
(14:20):
But you know there's dry periods in the winter, and
you should not let your plants dry out over the winter.
I mean, they still need even if they're dormant, they
still need water, don't they.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Yeah, And what happens is if the plant is irrigated
and it's got moisture content in it, it's able to
handle the freezes and the wind so much better because
what the wind does when you got that cold, you know,
wind blowing across your plants. It's actually pulling moisture out
(14:52):
of the leaves, which, by the way, an additional public
service announcement, do not stand up your plants in the
back of your pickup truck as you drive across the
Ravenel Bridge to your home. That's thirty to fifty mile
an hour breeze that's blowing across your plants is sucking
(15:12):
moisture out of the plant, and it can really harm
the plant. And we've seen, you know, if you plant
something that has been wind whipped or wind impacted like that,
you can plant it and within a couple of days
begin to see defoliation where the plant would literally just
start dropping leaves because it doesn't have the moisture content
(15:33):
and maybe even nutrients to support what it had two
days before when we were irrigating it, you know, every
day or twice a day. So when you do buy plants,
cover your plants in the back of your pickup truck,
lay them down and cover them with a tarp, and
it will save you so much pain and suffering. Later
after you go to plant it and you start to
(15:54):
see the needles or the leaves start to defolly.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
It off of it well, that's great vice, Ryan. And
you know, in speaking of wintertime, are there different kinds
of plants that you can plant this time of year?
And and you know what what do you have going
on at Brownswood Nursery right now? For people that you know,
there's so that are a green thumb and they're itching
to get in the dirt and and grow something. You know,
(16:21):
what do you what do you offer them at this
time of year?
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Well, Brownswood is open year round, so we have acres
and acres and acres out here. We're the largest garden
center and design build firm combined in the Charleston area.
Our total property right now is about seventy acres and
(16:47):
that's that's not all developed. We have a lot of
still undeveloped areas, but we have very large water reservoirs
and ponds and things that we can irrigate from. And
but we have tens of thousands of plants, Michael out
here all the time year round, and so we have
i'd say eighty percent just to pick a number. It's
(17:07):
a gas, but eighty percent of our plant material in
Chrolston can be planted every day of the year. Winter
summer doesn't matter. And again this is a broad brush,
it's not an exact percentage, don't fact check me. But
twenty percent, let's say, are more tender, more seasonal things,
and those would be things like shell ginger. I don't
know if you're familiar with ginger lily alpinia. It's a variegated,
(17:32):
very herbaceous, beautiful plant, and we typically don't want to
plant that in the winter because we're concerned that if
we do have a more severe winter, which does happen
occasionally in Chrolston, it might not come back because it
doesn't have the root system to support it. But you know, citrus,
I wouldn't be planting citrus in the winter. It already
(17:54):
has some cold sensitivities depending on which variety, whether it's
a lemon or a lime or a grapefruit. But I mean, again,
say eighty percent to make up our fictitious number of
plant can be planted every day, and winter is an
excellent time to plant. And it's a misnomer, particularly if
you're from more northern climates. You think winter is bad
(18:17):
and summer is good, and then just Charleston, you have
to calibrate that winter, spring fall, every part of the
year is actually fine as long as you have irrigation. Now,
if you don't have irrigation, then I would avoid the summer.
Right but right now you can plant elms, oaks, Hollis
(18:38):
Annis lagustrum, camellias, hydrangeas, azaleas. You know, there's countless varieties,
Magnolia's I mean, nandina. I could go on and on.
I could just keep saying plant names over and over again.
But tons of plants can be planted today. They can
be planted a month from now in the middle of January.
(19:00):
Thing you just want to check is their their cold sensitivity.
And again, a certified horticulture professional at Brownswood can help
you make the right decision for the right plant in
the right place and the timing. And we'll tell you
we have integrity. We'll tell you, hey, missus Smith, don't
plant this plant today, just wait, come back, come back later,
(19:22):
you know, get it, get it later, or put it
inside your house, enjoy it as a house planet that's applicable.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Well, that's great to know. And I did not realize
that you could plant virtually year round. I thought that,
you know, you had to do it at specific times.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Yeah, it's a lot of people think that you have
to do it at a specific time, and Charleston's climate
has it's so mild in our winters now we have
had again we do have these cold, cold freezes and
cold snaps. And again I'm not a meteorologist or a
predictor of what our winter this year will be like,
(20:00):
although I do think the groundhog will see a shadow.
I'm gonna go ahead and just put that out there,
punks a Tony Phil So what that prediction comes true?
Will you please reair this and then point to that
I got I got that right.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
That'll be That'll be our deal.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Okay, good. But in terms of plant material, we are
a really unique climate that we can plant so much so, uh,
you know, across the entire year. And I will also say,
if you're downtown Charleston, if you're in parts of James
Island towards Polly Beach, the U s d A has
(20:40):
upgraded you a few years ago to Zone nine A.
So if you google usd A Zone nine A, you
can see the level of plants that you can grow
versus most of John's Island is still eight B Michael,
and a B just means on average, our temperatures are
a little cooler than a nine A. And as you
move down towards Miami, you're moving into from nine A
(21:03):
to nine B to ten A to ten B, and
you're moving from subtropical to tropical where you can have
you know, coconut palms and all that fun you know,
really tropical type stuff. But we're in a really cool
horticultural spot where we can do such a wide range
of plant material. And one quick tip for the winter,
(21:24):
try to find some camelias to plant, because Camellia sussenka's
give you fall color and Camellia japonicas give you that
beautiful winter and all the way. Some varieties will bloom
all the way to April. So Cameilia susanka will give
you more of that fall color and Camilia japonica will
give you more of that winter color. That's a quick
(21:44):
quick tip. If you want to plant something that would
be a great one.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Well nice and if you want to do that, you
should stop by Brownswood Nursery. As Ryan said, they're open
year round. You can stop buy do some shopping and
pick out some plants to pretty up your yard and
keep yourself busy and your green thumb satiated over the wintertime,
and another great thing that you can do for the wintertime.
You also offer design services there. You know, don't wait
(22:09):
until spring or summer to start if you want to,
you know, design your landscape. Don't wait until the last
minute or you know you're going to you're gonna mis
enjoying it for the season. You should get your plans
in order right now. Tell us about your design services, Ryan, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
So we we've been offering design for a long time
and we have an amazing design team. I'm actually the
one that goes out and does our initial design consultation,
which I love doing. I love meeting new people and
seeing their properties and finding ways to enhance it and
make it what they want their dream. But a n
yard consultation is where it starts. And then once that
(22:51):
come out, I can assess with you again your hopes
and dreams Michael for your property, and then say, okay,
well what do you want to invest in this project?
Do you want to invest you know, five thousand or
fifty thousand, what's your goal and what do you want
to achieve from that? And then we drop a plan.
Some of our plans, Michael are sketches, so you know,
(23:14):
it might be a very simple sketch. Many neighborhoods have
HLA's and they have architectural review boards and architectural review committees,
and so those can require an actual scaled landscape plan
on your plant or survey.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
And I mean they're interrupted, Ryan, but I just wanted
to be clear. This goes not only for you know,
the placement of your trees and you know the grading
and all of that for your landscape. You can literally
design their whole yard for them, including where the patio goes,
where the swimming pool goes, where the hot tub goes,
where all the landscaping goes. So it's full service landscape design.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Yeah, that's right, and kind of we follow that Stephen Covey,
you know, encouragement and seven habits, which is begin with
the end in mind, and if you can, we love
to drop a master plan for your property and then
we show you outdoor kitchen, spot, patios, walkways, pergolas, pools, spas,
(24:18):
whatever your dream is. We want to we want to
put that on paper. We have a very sophisticated software
that allows us to show it to you on a
bird's eye view and also a three D fly through video. Michael,
that's immersive. I think you've seen it before and it
makes you feel like you can really visualize where this
is heading. And then once the design's done, we can
(24:41):
implement it. We can install it one phase at a
time based on your budget and your preference of which
part of the yard you want to start in, and
we help you sequence it so you don't paint yourself
into a corner and have to undo work later. So
we help you with Okay, this is this is phase one.
This is where we want to start. Your budget might
be you know, ten thousand, one hundred thousand, doesn't matter,
(25:03):
whatever the budget is. Brownswood has something for everyone. That's
the other thing I want to communicate is because we
are a grower. We're not just a middle man where
we're buying and selling plants. We grow thirty thousand plus
plants a year our own facility on our own land,
from liners, from cuttings. Sweet grass for example. We pick
sweet grass, feed locally and we grow you know, five
(25:25):
six seven thousand sweet grass a year. So you're coming
to a source of plant material and then we can
come up with the plan and then help you implement it.
And if you're a di wire Michael, you like digging
the holes, we can do the heavy lifting. We can
build the more heartscape, irrigation, lighting, you know, water feature
type stuff, grading, drainage, and then you can do the
(25:47):
soft stuff. You can do some of the fun planting.
And so we pair very nicely with the client's needs,
their wishes, what they want to do, and we're very
respectful of their budget. You know, we do. We do
small projects that are one tree, Michael, We'll come out
and plant one tree. And we finished a project a
couple of months ago that was a quarter of a
million dollars in landscaping. So that's a that's a massive swath.
(26:12):
And again we pride ourselves and having something for everyone
at Brownswood well excellent.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
And you know, we could talk forever, but we're out
of time. Time Always Fly is talking to you, Ryan,
and it's always very informative and certainly we'll have you
back again soon. But if people want to check out
Brownswood Nursery, go ahead and give us the address. It's
on Brownswood Road and on John's Island. What's the street number, twelve.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Ninety, Yeah, twelve ninety Brownswood Road, but if you google
Brownswood Nursery it'll come right up. We've been here for
like I said, it'll be forty seven years. And the
best website for us, well, the best place to get us.
The website is Brownswood Nursery dot com and a quick
thing if you Google or if you put in your
URL shop dot Brownswood Nursery dot com. Michael we us
(27:00):
released our live availability so you can actually start to
see right now. It's still in beta testing, but you can.
I'll spread the word for your listeners. You can actually
see what we have in stock right now, and you
can see it twenty four hours a day, seven days
a week, whether we're open or not. There's pictures, there's
details of plants, and we're continuing to build the catalog.
(27:23):
But you can go and see what we have right
now in stock.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
That's excellent. That's a nice feature there, Ryan, And as
I said, always a pleasure to talk to you. Always
very informative. And stay safe, my friend, and we will
talk to you again soon. Go see Ryan Watkins at
Brownswood Nursery and Landscape Design on Brownswood Road, John's Island,
(27:47):
or check out the website and again, give that, give
that new future. Yeah you are all again.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Shop yes, shop dot Brownswoodnursery dot com and that'll bring
you up to our live availability perfect.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
Thanks Ryan, Thanks Michael, And that does it for today's show.
Thanks for listening. If you missed any part of today's
show or you want to listen to it again already
past episodes, go to ninety four to three WSC dot com,
look under podcasts, and then your home three sixty. You
can also download it for free on your iHeartRadio app.
Have a good weekend.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.